It's Tuesday, 8th October, and I'm sitting in the finest of Great Britain's establishments: the legendary Wetherspoon.
I don't usually do this, but I'm waiting for my flight to Amsterdam in the next hour. I've got some time to kill, so I thought I'd best bring you along on the DPW journey.
I’m recording video content during and around the event, so make sure you are subscribed to the World of Procurement YouTube channel if you want to see it.
I appreciate that it can be costly for many, and not everyone's employers will pay for it.
For me, I'm going as a vendor (aka the Dark Side in Procurement - damn, I missed an opportunity to pose in my Darth Vader replica helmet).
I have worked on both sides of procurement technology: buying and implementing platforms as a practitioner, then moving into product marketing. That experience is why I care about the relationship between vendors, contracts and third-party risk—and about whether software fits the operating model around it.
A life-changing event in many ways for me.
I’m at the event to see what vendors are building and to compare notes with procurement technology peers. We have more technology choices than ever. That creates evaluation work, but it also creates useful competitive pressure.
That competition is helping procurement technology mature. Buyers can choose between broader platform approaches and best-of-breed products. Neither is automatically superior: the right answer depends on scope, integration, data, governance and the team that will operate it.
Anyway, that's my rambles for now. I'll drive and give you multiple updates this week, my friends.
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